Questions

Sometimes it can feel like pulling teeth to get relevant questions out of young children on a topic.

Photo by Mads Boedker

Sure, they can ask endless questions about their focus for that second. They are wonder-filled, curious explorers of their world.

But if you expect them to develop questions on a new, unfamiliar topic, then you are setting up for failure. They don't have the prior knowledge, or life experiences, to be able to answer, 'What questions do you have about this new topic? What do you wonder?' Instead, they are bursting to tell you a story or tell about a connection they just made with the topic.

The questions come naturally later. Those questions are the 'halleluiah' moments for me. It shows them extending their thinking beyond the boundaries of their current learning, and it shows them transferring their understanding to new realms.

As we approach the end of our learning on the physics of forces, I had two such questions, from two different classes in one day. I'm beaming with joy with these questions!



While exploring gravity, a student asked why the Earth doesn't get pulled into the Sun. Not only is this student transferring the pull of Earth's gravity to another object (the Sun), they are wondering what is stopping this from following the example that they have been learning about.

photo by stephendl

Another class is thinking about forces in terms of pushes and pulls. A student asked about the pull of a magnet and why magnets sometimes fall down the whiteboard. We hadn't even mentioned magnetism as a force, yet here this student is making connections between the pushes and pulls experienced in daily life and in our investigations with magnetic forces. They are wondering why magnets stay up sometimes, but not every time.

Both questions allowed us to discuss balanced and unbalanced forces and find new viewpoints and make new connections. It is moments like this that I love to be an educator!

Friction with tug-of-war

Playing a few varieties of tug-of-war is a fun way to experience friction. Students explore what more or less friction feels like.

First, I divided the class into as even teams as possible and then they played tug-of-war in the traditional way.

Here's where it gets interesting. For the second round, I gave the losers of round one gloves to put on. This makes a small change to the amount of grip. The other team still uses their bare hands.

The losing team then received gloves for round three, but their gloves had a large squirt of dish-washing liquid. They were instructed to rub their hands together, then we played tug-of-war again, one team with liquid, one without. This results in a large change to the amount of grip.

Many students had heard of friction and had had everyday experiences with it: rubbing your hands together to get warm in winter, and skidding on the floor.

So what is friction?

Friction is a force that acts between two surfaces in contact producing grip.

I found my students can create a drawing which represents the activity and includes force-arrows to show the pulls. Most of them use the arrows to show the direction of the force and many are using arrows to show whether it is a large or small pull. Some draw many/few arrows, some use thick/thin arrows and some use long/short arrows. This will lead us to discuss scientific conventions and how scientists communicate.

I found my students having difficulty representing the frictional forces. They aren't sure of the direction of force, and most weren't willing to even have a go putting it on paper.

I'm thinking in terms of John Hattie's research, that these students are in the novice phase. I need to develop surface and deep understandings. I need to present and provide opportunities for multiple ways of learning. I need visual, verbal and multimedia forms to provide richer representations. I'm thinking about questions I can pose that will promote thinking. I  need to be clearer with my success criteria, first in my own thinking and then sharing it with students.

Next lesson, we'll review the changes they observed with the different surfaces.I have found relevant, real-life examples: photos of aeroplane crashes on difference surfaces, soles of shoes, and videos of  friction welding, of sand sledding, and a Mythbusters video on interleaved phonebooks. I'll ask those questions and have the students think-pair-share. Which is the best sled to go sledding, and which is the worst? If your plane is going down, which surface would you prefer to land on to stay alive? Which shoes would you choose to play indoor soccer and which to go hiking? We'll be investigating pushing a heavy object on a range of surfaces. We'll come back later and add force-arrows to their drawing to show friction.

Exploring Air

Most 6-8 year olds will tell you something about air.

"Air is everywhere."

"Air is in your lungs."

"You can't see air."

Ask them to collect it in a plastic bag and they will. They will use different methods to collect the air: pulling the bag through the air, scooping air in, blowing air in, using the air conditioner.

They see that air takes up space.

They might tell you places they know that don't have air: space, inside glass and other solids.

Even though they see air taking up space, they don't really believe it until you show them this:

 Tissue in a cup

1.  Take a tissue and place it inside a clear plastic cup.
2. What's in the cup? A tissue and air!
3. Turn it upside down. 
4. What's in the cup? A tissue and air!
5. Carefully lower it into a clear tub of water.
6. What's in the cup now?
7. Remove from the water and feel the tissue, the outside edge and the inside edge of the cup.

Amazed, they really get that air takes up space.
They'll tell you

"the air pushes the water away!"

Then take two identical pieces of paper. Make a big deal checking that they are exactly the same. Same size. Same weight. Same!

Scrunch one of the papers into a ball. They'll tell you that you've changed the shape. Remind them everything else is the same.

Devise a fair way to test whether a flat paper or scrunched paper will hit the ground first. Discuss that the height and the way you drop needs to same.

We only changed one thing: the shape.

Some kids will still be convinced that you made the scrunched ball heavier, but examine that misconception. Talk about the pull of gravity and the upward push of air. It's a difficult concept, but they are ready for the challenge.
 

Students found this lesson engaging and it challenged misconceptions on several levels.

Based on the Primary Connections resource, Push Pull

I'm struggling

Right now I'm struggling.

I'm struggling with the weakest area of my teaching.

Self-evaluation using TfEL (2012)                                        Two peer reviews, and two other self-reviews here.

I'm a reflective teacher and it's important to me to evaluate my teaching as part of a continuous cycle of improvement. I self-evaluate my teaching through comparisons with other teachers in my school, through learning what other teachers do differently through reading, reading online, and accessing my PLN on twitter, through using tools developed over the last few years, such as TfEL and the Australian Professional Standards, and through school processes. In many schools, the process of evaluation is lacking; positive feedback comments are few and far between, Professional Development meetings with leadership are stilted, and peer-evaluation, which is coming into favour, only works if you are established in a school and have strong relationships with colleagues, as many teachers find this challenging. The more I teach, the more I find myself seeking out conversations that help me grow, asking for support when I need it, and asking direct questions to elicit feedback. I can't survive without encouragement and feedback.

Morning routine

I know my strengths and weaknesses as a teacher. My weakest area in teaching is behaviour management. I've made great strides in improving, particularly over the last few years as a classroom teacher. I've developed to a point where my students are learning to be intrinsically motivated, with classroom routines that support them to learn emotional control, responsibility, and highlight values, such as respect, kindness and caring. Many of the routines using Conscious Discipline via Heather's Heart helped shape my teaching, but more on that at another time. I had phased out extrinsic rewards and reward systems, even stickers! And student behaviour was supporting learning, and part of learning, in my classroom.


Now we come to this year. This year I am not in my own classroom. I teach a handful of different classes for single or double lessons, once or twice a week. I'm the new teacher in the school. There are a number of students with challenging behaviours. There are a number of students still learning emotional control. There are some angry kids.

And suddenly I find I can't use the same methods I'd developed as a classroom teacher that foster good relationships, good learning behaviour, and happy, safe kids.

Hands-on forces game

At first I worked on developing relationships with my new students. I made opportunities to spend extra time with some classes. I relied on engaging, hands-on science lessons. But it wasn't enough. In one class, behaviour is extreme and is getting in the way of learning, and I feel like I am failing these kids.

I was determined not to fail. I spoke to colleagues about how to best support these children and what strategies have worked in the past. I asked leadership to support me.


I found out that for some of these students, extreme behaviours distract from learning when they are not confident learners and not happy with the standard of their learning. I found out that they have not yet developed group skills for teamwork. I found out that some students had not experienced consistency with teaching the previous year. I found out about a student who has emotional upheaval at home currently and a student who has been to anger management classes. If there are any kids at this school who most need good relationships and values, and skills and knowledge development, it's these kids!

Hands-on friction activity

So what now? My focus is now consistency and persistence. I aim to give tighter support and guidelines for group work. I am being more explicit with learning objectives at the beginning of the lesson. I am working on providing success criteria. I am requiring students to be assessed, and therefore responsible for their learning, in each and every lesson. I'm following up with students who don't complete work that records their day's learning by keeping them in for part of their recess, or expecting them to complete it in their own time. I am following the school's behaviour plan that relies on the step system: first reminder, second reminder, thinking spot, change seating and buddy class. I am trying to find and voice the positives to the students. I am continuing to provide science activities that are hands-on. I am trying to find time, in brief moments of peace, to connect with individual students.

Beginnings

I don't know who is more excited to be learning in my classroom, whether its myself or the children. I love to see their faces light up with excitement, new ideas and understandings, and wanting to share their skills, stories and knowledge.

I believe many things about teaching and learning. Here are just some, in no particular order:

1. Teacher perceptions of a student's ability are self-fulfilling. If you believe that someone is capable of achieving greatness, then that person will indeed achieve greatness. We do this by setting achievable and challenging goals and teaching student's to do the same.
2. The more students (and teachers) externalise and articulate their ideas the more they learn; providing opportunities for children to continually express, explain and articulate their learning builds deeper, clear and more complex understanding. I like the Charner-Laird et al. (2003) description of reflection as "the mind’s strongest glue” for making the connections essential to understanding.
3. Growth mindset states that abilities can be cultivated and developed throughout lives; through effort and learning students can improve their ability.
4. Learning is not a product but an active process. Students are active participants in learning, employing problem-solving skills to construct understanding out of prior knowledge and new experiences.
5. Intrinsically motivated learning leads to life-long learning.
6. Mistakes and risk-taking are accepted and encouraged in the classroom. This is how we learn. The mind develops in response to a challenge, or in discovering a misconception.
7. Building on students' natural curiosity and interests leads to greater engagement and deeper learning. Problem-solving, creative and critical thinking, and inquiry processes support students in deepening understanding.
8. A detailed understanding of how children learn step by step (pedagogy) is needed to inform planning to best design coherent and well-sequenced learning programs. 
9. A safe environment with strong, respectful relationships is essential to any learning. Learning is collaborative, a shared experience, and a place where students inspire and encourage each other is needed. A place where students are safe to make mistakes and go beyond their comfort zones is needed.
10. The whole school community is part of students' learning, from students to teachers, leaders and families. Families have an important role and communication between home and schools is part of the process; it is valuable to use different communication methods and provide a range of opportunities to reach a greater range of families.
11. Assessment and self-evaluation inform my teaching and enable me to modify and change content and teaching practices. Feedback is part of the assessment process. "Feedback is just in time, just for me information delivered when and where it will do the most good" (Nottingham).
12. Learning is the purpose of my classroom. Whether that be skills and understandings, fostering a love of learning, or the development of values and behaviours. 
    

I have taught in a number of roles over the years: from Reception (Kindergarten) to year 5, and as a specialist teacher in Science, Technology and PE. Right now I am working as a Science specialist teacher and supporting Junior Primary classrooms with guided reading, comprehension and Maths.